Nerve compressive syndrome, also known as entrapment neuropathy, is a medical condition caused by direct pressure, structural changes in the nerve or adjacent tissues or mechanically injury on a single nerve. Its symptoms include pain, tingling, numbness, and muscle weakness. The symptoms affect just one particular part of the body, depending on which nerve is affected. Although a well known example is compression of the median nerve at the wrist (carpal tunnel syndrome), other nerves, such as the ulnar nerve at the wrist or the elbow and the spinal nerve roots at the vertebral foramen, are vulnerable. Long term effect of nerve compression may lead to neuron degeneration and the loss of neural function.
Decompression surgery is a regular therapeutic method to remove the compressive source, such as bone or cartilage, to release a pressure and mitigate the neuropathic pain. After surgery, the symptoms may resolve completely, but if the compression was sufficiently severe or prolonged, the nerve may not recover fully and some symptoms may persist. Moreover, the functional recovery of the patients after the surgery will need longer time to be achieved. In most cases, the degeneration of nerve fiber cannot be repaired with the decompression surgery.
Therefore, there is still a need on discovering a method for functional improvement or recovery of degenerated nerves in the early stage of entrapment neuropathy or after the decompression surgery.